12/12/2024

Vending machines aren’t just for snacks anymore – at Dodge Elementary, students can insert gold coins into the machine for their favorite book.

 

The vending machine was unveiled in November, thanks to TeamMates Mentoring of Grand Island and a grant from READ Nebraska. The grant was awarded to TeamMates to help promote literacy and boost reading levels across the state. 

 

Along with promoting literacy in elementary schools, TeamMates has been able to expand their mentoring program to younger grades. Dodge Elementary is the first elementary school in Grand Island to benefit from the expanded mentoring program, and TeamMates hopes to include more schools in the future.

 

“Historically in Grand Island, we've mentored between sixth grade through high school,” Melissa Almond, TeamMates Mentoring of Grand Island Coordinator, said. “The READ Nebraska grant allowed us the opportunity to reach more,” she shared.

 

The goal is to have at least ten mentor matches with fifth graders at Dodge this year. Currently, there are seven. Almond shared there is always a list of students in need of mentors.

 

Fifth grader Alynee Acosta is a TeamMates mentee at Dodge. 

 

“My favorite part about being in TeamMates is you get to do a lot of things, like with your TeamMate. Like a friend, like we do everything with friends,” Acosta said.

 

AJ Rerucha is a new TeamMates mentor to a fifth grade student at Dodge.

 

“The relationship that I have with my mentee started off really fast,” Rerucha said. “We have a lot of common interests and things that we enjoy, and there's about four or five books in there [the book vending machine] that really interest him, and he's excited to read,” he added.

 

Dodge Principal Angie Eberle said she is honored to pilot the elementary TeamMates program, and is excited about the book vending machine for students.

 

“In our classrooms, our teachers of course are always instilling that love of reading, and in media class that they have each week,” Eberle explained. “Having a [book] vending machine really highlights that literacy and reading is important in our school and for our students. And as we build that excitement, we want to build on that as well with reading and literacy here at Dodge,” she said.

 

To start, Eberle said each student will be given a token on their birthday or half birthday to choose a book from the vending machine. She said this ensures every student will get a chance to use the book vending machine.

 

Almond said she is excited to help promote literacy, and to support student success through providing mentor matches. 

 

“I'm very excited for this partnership, primarily because we need mentors across Grand Island, and TeamMates serves all four school districts in Grand Island,” Almond said. “We felt the need, because with this grant, it isn't just about mentoring, it's about raising the reading levels across the state. We couldn't not look at that and say, ‘We’ve got to do this.’,” she said.

 

Interested in becoming a TeamMates mentor? Visit www.teammates.org or email malmond@gips.org for more information.

 

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